


At Least It's Not Trying To Kill Us

by WhiskerBiscuit



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Crossover, First Meetings, Gen, Implied Relationships, i may or may not add more to this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-09 00:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiskerBiscuit/pseuds/WhiskerBiscuit
Summary: The Mystery Skull Gang find someone living in a long-abandoned animation studio. They're not really sure what to do, but they'd never leave anyone in need of help. Even when they have no idea what he actually is.Based on atomi-cat's AU on tumblr.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [atomi-cat's awesome doodles](http://atomi-cat.tumblr.com/tagged/bendy+and+the+mystery+skulls)
> 
> Go check it out if you haven't already!

It was a miracle they had found him in the first place.

 _Really_ , Arthur thought, _how does something that small even move around this place?_ Because he was a full-grown adult – debatably – who got dragged into the supernatural on a regular basis and here he was, lost and nervous in the haunted maze someone actually once called a studio. If it weren’t for his companions, he’d probably have fallen down some trapdoor or something. 

But navigate they had, and found him they did, and now Arthur peered warily around Lew’s shoulder at the comatose thing in his arms. The creature looked pretty battered and out of it and, despite Mystery’s refusal to be near him, really quite harmless. Almost pitiful. 

Arthur could relate.

Just a few feet away, Vivi rambled excitedly about how incredible this discovery was and how she needed to figure out all there was to that hideous mistake of a machine before they left. Arthur loved her, he really did, but she was misreading the situation so badly and didn’t seem to realize how unresponsive their new charge was.

“Uh, Vivi?” Arthur left Lewis’ side to approach her cautiously. She paused mid thought and glanced his way. He took it. “I think, I mean I really think we should get out of here.”

She looked downright miffed. “No way! We’re not leaving till we turn on that machine!” It was said with the finality of a woman not to be crossed and Arthur shuffled backwards awkwardly. They were interrupted by the quiet voice of their largest companion.

“Vivi…” Lewis juggled the tiny thing into the crook of his arm and held out his free hand. “I know you want answers, but I think making sure this little guy is okay comes first. We can always come back, okay?” At his side, Mystery made a rough noise in his throat and his frown deepened, but he didn’t voice outright disagreement.

Arthur felt a pang of sympathy at the conflicted look on Vivi’s face. She clearly wanted to stay as long as she could, especially since this was quite a ways from where they lived and there was no guarantee of when they’d be back. But then he looked at the limp creature in his friend’s arms and that pang turned into pressure.

“Please Vivi,” Lewis tried again, “I promise we will come back. But we really need to do something about this.”

“I know, I know. I…yeah, let’s go. I’m sorry.” The woman sighed and stepped into rhythm with her boyfriend as he began heading towards the exit. She wiped one blue sleeve over the being’s face, clearing up his forehead even though he didn’t stir. The sleeve came back stained and Vivi murmured a soft ‘oh’ as she examined it.

Arthur and Mystery kept pace behind them, both bothered for different reasons. Arthur didn’t know what was bugging the dog ( _kitsune?_ ), but he knew for sure he was ready to be outta here. Taking up the rear, he was the last to see what they’d left before he closed the door, and let himself have the shiver that ran up his spine. He could be afraid of this place.

He wouldn’t be the last.

They made it to the van parked outside without issue, and Lewis swung around to the back while Vivi pulled on the side door and started rummaging inside for a first aid kit – very useful in their line of work. Arthur opened the back and his friend placed the little thing carefully on the floor of the van. With a triumphant ‘AHA’ Vivi came headfirst over the backseat, one hand outstretched with the medical kit even as she nearly tumbled upside down. She barely caught herself in front of them.

Lewis helped her upright and they started looking through the kit for something they could use. Mystery prowled a good few feet away, watching with indifference. Arthur studied the unconscious creature but found no sign of injury.

“Sooo, what exactly are we doing?” He offered worriedly as the other two took out dressings and the first aid manual. “Cause uh, it doesn’t look like he’s actually hurt anywhere.”

Vivi huffed and waved the roll of gauze a bit. “I dunno, I figured maybe all that melted ink is like blood? Maybe he has a head injury.” She made a motion to wipe at the creature’s forehead again, then looked at her blackened sleeve and thought better of it.

Mystery, who still refused to come near, worked his jaw in distressed thought. He seemed to come to a conclusion, because eventually he sighed and glanced away. “He’s not hurt per se. I believe he is drained of energy.”

“Um, okay, so what does that mean?” Arthur took off his vest, balled it up and placed it under the little thing as a makeshift pillow. Beside him Lewis shook his head, just as confused.

“It means he is…malnourished, so to speak.” Mystery chanced a few steps forward and his snout wrinkled. “I do not know what he needs or if he eats, but perhaps with proper rest away from this – this place, he will wake up to tell us.”

Lewis considered this and put everything back in the med kit. He handed it to Vivi and looked at them. “It’s almost a six hour drive back to Tempo. If we’re going to head back, we should do it now. Arthur, would you be willing to hold him?”

“Sure, I –”

“I’d rather not be that close to him, if it’s all the same.” Mystery cut in suddenly, right next to Arthur. He jumped and nearly hit the van’s back door.

“Why? What’s been going on with you?” His owner crouched and put her hand to his furry cheek. “You’ve been avoiding him the entire time. What’s wrong?”

“It is not avoidance, it is caution. I don’t know this creature’s origin, or the history of that place. All of it is unnatural. This situation is unprecedented, even for us. Even for me.” He leaned into the hand and closed his eyes. “I would rather not have my friends lost again.”

Arthur rubbed his metal arm self-consciously and accidently met Lew’s gaze, which was shadowed under his hair. It flickered briefly in a muted purple glow. Vivi chewed her lip, eyes soft.

“Nothing’s going to happen to us. I’ll hold him in the front seat, and you can watch from behind, yeah? How does that sound?”

“Quite frankly, none of it sounds favorable,” Mystery muttered to himself, but he opened his eyes and with one quick leap jumped straight over all of them into the van. He still pressed himself against the back of the seat, as far from their comatose charge as possible. “But if this is our only option, so be it. Do tell me if he does anything.”

“You got it!” The woman flashed a big smile as she tentatively gathered the creature into her arms. Lewis helped her into the passenger seat and shut the door; coming back around the side, he watched as Arthur climbed into the open back.

“Are you okay, Arthur?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah I’m fine!” He smiled, small but sincere. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting something like this so soon after…after everything, you know?”

“Yes,” Lewis murmured, eyeing the decrepit studio behind them. “I know what you mean.”

And so they got the van started and left it at that – Lewis driving like always, Vivi cooing over the inky thing in her lap, Mystery keeping a sharp eye for abnormalities, and Arthur watching the building disappear from sight as they turned off to another street. 

The pressure in his heart didn’t go away for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so sad when I found no one had written anything about this, because it's such a fascinating concept and I love it so much. I don't know if I'll ever add another chapter, cause I'm trying to finish a lot of other things right now, but we'll see. Go give atomi-cat's page a look, there's a lot more on the story and I took a few lines of dialogue straight from that.


	2. So He's Awake, Now What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bendy wakes up, but it's a bit of a rude awakening. Vivi's determined to fix it.

They were two hours out on the road when Vivi felt the little creature stir in her arms. She watched as groggy pie eyes opened and looked at her tiredly. 

“Lewis,” she whispered, trying to keep her heart’s excited pounding to a minimum. “Lew, he woke up, he’s looking at me.” 

Her boyfriend glanced their way, curious but still focused on the road. Behind them, Arthur sat up quickly and winced when the blood rushed to his head, and Mystery shifted with a narrowed gaze. Vivi put a finger to her lips and turned her attention back to the inky blinky face.

Said face was slowly coming to realize he didn’t recognize this person, because his brow furrowed hard and his mouth drooped to a frown in an instant. The next instant it was suddenly, dangerously queasy. Vivi gasped.

“Lewis, pull over, quick! He’s gonna hurl!”

The van swerved to the right and the poor girl thanked every celestial being she knew that they were close to the side of the road. She was out of her seatbelt and opening the door before they had fully stopped and barely prevented the rest of her clothing from suffering the same fate as her sleeve. The creature was half in her arms, half kneeling in the dirt as he trembled and vomited black thickness.

Vivi put one hand soothingly on his back and rubbed, the other looped under his arms and around his chest. Footsteps and a pair of shiny dark boots appearing to her left told her that Lewis was there, and there was a rumble from behind as the back doors of the van were pushed open. Her boyfriend’s shoes turned in that direction.

“Guys, let’s give him some space. Crowding won’t help anything.”

So they did, and Vivi was left relatively alone with her sick charge as he hacked and coughed for several minutes more. Finally he stopped and collapsed against her arm, breathing in small short pants. The girl looked up and saw her friends forming a semi-circle on either side of the van, shielding her and the creature from view of the road. Nobody would see the rarity in their company.

_My boys rock._

Arthur made eye contact with her and nodded at her arms. Vivi glanced down to find a pair of wide pupils staring back at her. The poor little thing was still shaking, but he seemed a little more coherent now and she took that as a good sign.

“Hello,” she offered cheerfully. The creature cocked his head but didn’t respond. “My name’s Vivi. You’re really fascinating, you know?”

He blinked, obviously surprised, but turned so her arm cradled his back and her hand sat on his chest. They stayed like that for a few seconds – her smiling patiently and him studying every inch of her face. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for.

“It’s really nice to meet you officially! Sorry we startled you, but you were out cold when we found you in that studio and –”

Her new friend looked suddenly startled, and his eyes darted around the dirt patch they sat in, the three people coming up to see him, and the dusty road surrounded by huge rolling hills. He made a choked noise, but whether out of panic or something else they couldn’t tell.

“Hey, hey it’s okay!” Vivi started rocking him back and forth. “We’re not going to hurt you!” He made a move to struggle, and she unconsciously tightened her hold on him. The creature shivered once and went limp, eyes screwed tightly shut. _I’m…not going to think too hard about that._ “Hey, shh, you don’t have to be afraid of us. I said we’re not going to hurt you. I promise.”

Lewis appeared at her side and briefly touched the critter’s head, causing a gasp and a jump as his eyes opened wide. Vivi couldn’t blame him – the touch of a ghost was rather icy hot, after all, and was something to get used to.

As her new friend watched, Lew’s eyes glowed in beautiful purple and his hand became half-transparent. The creature gasped again in wonder and seemed to forget his apprehension almost instantly, because he reached curiously for this strange sight. Vivi smiled when their hands met and became a handshake of the supernatural. They shook on it for a moment and then released, and the creature blinked at his own hand, entranced. His gaze snapped back up with new footsteps.

“Uh, hiya,” Arthur crouched and met his eyes. “I’m Arthur. Nice to meet you.” He held out his robotic arm, and their charge made an exclamation rather similar to a steam siren. It startled all of them, but the creature was already examining the artificial limb with a lively vigor they’d never seen from him. He bent one metallic finger and poked at the joints, and Arthur struggled to balance when he was pulled forward just a bit. There was a tentative smile on his face.

Vivi looked at Mystery, hanging back and observing. She offered a hand but he shook his head. He was certainly still wary but obviously convinced none of his friends would come to harm. He did, however, take the chance to ask what they were all wondering.

“What is your name?”

The creature stopped in his prodding and perked his head in the dog’s direction. He considered each Mystery Skulls member before coming to a decision and attempted to stand on his feet. He did so – albeit shakily – and pointed to his face, bursting with the biggest grin Vivi had ever seen. He placed his other hand on his hip and held the pose, waiting for a reaction.

It was Lewis who figured it out first. “Wait, the posters…you’re Bendy? That old cartoon character?”

 _Ding!_ Bendy made a noise like an elevator bell and the grin grew beyond humanly possible. _Huh_ , Vivi thought, _I suppose being modeled after a cartoon has its perks._ That realization caught up to her a moment later and suddenly the little toon was the one being examined.

“Oh, wow! So you’re like, a living, breathing cartoon? I mean duh, you’re here and we saw the posters and the film reel but – but wow! I didn’t think you, I mean how did you imitate that sound so well? What else can you do? Where did you come from, is there like an alternate cartoon dimension, like that one movie? I bet that’s what it is, how’d you –?”

“Vivi!”

The girl startled, and realized that in her rambling she had moved onto her hands and knees with her apprehensive new friend stuck halfway underneath her on his back. Vivi jolted to her feet, red with embarrassment, and Bendy cautiously got up as well, brushing himself off.

“Ah, sorry, I just get so excited sometimes…” she trailed, watching the cartoon watch her. “It’s just, you’re so incredible! We’ve seen a lot of weird stuff over the years, but never anything like this!”

Bendy pointed to himself, appearing confused. Arthur nodded and chimed in. “She’s not kidding, I don’t think there’s anyone quite like you. It’s, uh, it’s pretty awesome if I’m being honest.”

Lewis placed a hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder and gave confirmation of that fact with a gesture of his head and a soft smile. The toon looked positively dumbstruck and Vivi kneeled again, extending a hand of solidarity. After a moment’s consideration, he took it and his grin returned full force.

“Well then, Bendy.” Vivi’s glasses gleamed. “Welcome to the Mystery Skulls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "This would make a good one-shot, I probably won't be writing anymore for this for a while" is what I tell myself to make me feel better.
> 
> "Well gee, it's too bad everyone's so fun to write, isn't it?" is what I tell myself when that doesn't work.


End file.
